Mar. 25, 2014
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Ibragim Todashev after his arrest for aggravated battery in Orlando. / AP

by Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY

by Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON - A Florida prosecutor Tuesday described a violent scene inside an Orlando-area apartment last May where a Chechen man, an associate of one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, attacked an FBI agent and then threatened another officer before he was shot to death by the agent.

State Attorney Jeffrey Ashton concluded that the May 22 shooting of Ibragim Todashev, who was being questioned at the time for his suspected involvement in a 2011 triple murder in Waltham, was justified. He said that Todashev - a mixed martial arts competitor -- suddenly became agitated sensing a likely arrest and "simply reverted to that basic aspect of his personality and chose to go down fighting.''

A separate Justice Department inquiry released Tuesday also reached similar conclusions, stating that the "evidence does not reveal a violation'' of federal civil rights laws.

In the prosecutor's a five-page summary of the incident, a calm and cooperative Todashev "confessed to some involvement in the homicides'' before his demeanor turned dramatically as he prepared a written statement of his involvement for authorities.

Instead of fleeing through a door away from the officers, an enraged Todashev allegedly flipped a glass coffee table into the air, striking the agent in the back of the head, the prosecutor reported. The suspect then rushed to the kitchen where he began rummaging through drawers and cabinets before emerging with a "long pole,'' then moved toward one of two Massachusetts State Police troopers who had accompanied the agent to the interview.

As Todashev held the pole above his head and advanced on the trooper, the agent, with blood pouring from a head wound, fired "three to four shots.''

"Mr. Todashev dropped to his knees by the force of the shots but was not incapacitated,'' the report said. "He immediately sprung toward the officers in what the (Massachusetts trooper) describes as a low-angled lunge. The special agent of the FBI fired three to four additional shots which incapacitated Mr. Todashev and resulted in his death.''

The Justice report said Todashev had been shot seven times.

Ashton said there was initial "concern'' over autopsy results that showed Todashev had been shot in the back. But the prosecutor said a a review of the firing trajectory and statements from the trooper appeared to confirm Todashev's final attempt to lunge from his knees.

Todashev was an associate of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed in an encounter with police in the days after the bombings. Tsarnaev also was a suspect in the Waltham murders, federal authorities have said.

Tamerlan's brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is awaiting trial and faces a possible death sentence if convicted in the coordinated bombings that killed three and wounded more than 200 people near the finish line of the iconic race.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which had urged a review of the shooting and has been critical of the FBI's conduct, said the group is reviewing the prosecutor's report.

"It is important to note that the prosecutor's review was limited to a very narrow review of whether the officer was justified to use lethal force during the seconds he pulled the trigger,'' the group said in written statement. "It does not explore or analyze the documented pattern of gross civil rights abuse which we have documented occurring before, during, and after the interrogation of Mr. Todashev.''

The Justice Department review, conducted by the Civil Rights Division, stated that Todashev "verbally waived his rights'' to counsel during the four-hour interview and signed a form acknowledging his right to be represented by an attorney and his "willingness to speak at that time without an attorney'' present.

"In response to continuing questioning, he hesitantly but indisputably admitted complicity in the murders,'' the Justice report concluded.

FBI spokesman Mike Kortan said the decisions by the Florida state attorney and the Justice Department were made "independent of the FBI.''

He said the FBI had conducted its own internal review of the matter and concluded that the shooting was "consistent with the (Justice Department's) deadly force policy.''